A home menagerie – every child’s dream! But some children never seem to grow up as is evidenced by the large number of private zoos discovered around the world by law enforcement officials. While it can be legal to have your own private zoo, oftentimes it is not. This list looks at ten unusual cases of people owning and maintaining a menagerie for their own pleasure.
In September 2009, police raided a small home in the New York suburb of Queens, expecting to find the owners in possession of illegal substances. What they found, was quite a bizarre surprise. The garage was littered with cages, housing a monitor lizard, a baby python and two iguanas. Also found at the home were: a baby caiman, four geckos, two marmosets, three tarantulas, seven adult pitbulls, 1 pitbull pup and a bulldog. The Center for Animal Care & Control was dispatched, and while the home itself was in a state of disrepair, reports were that the animals were fairly well taken care of.
Former cab driver, turned New York Real Estate billionaire Tamir Sapir, 61, had his luxury yatch boarded by the US Customs and Border Protection division in late 2007. Officers seized approxmiately $85,000 worth of specimens including: bar stools upholstered with python and anaconda skin, seven carved elephant tusks, hides of jaguars, tigers and zebras, a cigarette holder made from python skin, a cigar box wrapped in elephant hide, a zebra skin lined children’s bed and a fully stuffed and mounted lion. Sapir was charged with 29 counts of attempting to import items in violation of the Endangered Species Act and slapped with a $150,000 fine. A statement from his attorney explained that Sapir was not trying to smuggle the goods into America, they were simply part of the decor of his “home away from home”.
On a passengar bus travelling from Poland to Ukraine, Border Officials were conducting a routine inspections for prohibited items. All seemed fine until they reached the cargo hold where, packed into various sized luggage, they discovered: two miniature kangaroos, five miniature ponies (each approx 50- 60cm in height) and eleven pheasants. One of the ponies was appeared pregnant. The bus driver denied knowledge of any illegal activity and claimed the luggage was delivered to him with instructions to transport them to an unknown person in Lviv, Ukraine.
Local residents phoned police and the Rock County Humane Society when they became disturbed by the presence of a dog tied to the second story balcony of the Memorial Avenue home. Upon entering the home, the discovered: six chickens, thirteen rabbits, two ball pythons, one cat, a snapping turtle, several cages full of mice and rats and (according to the source) “one native snake of unknown origin”. Officials released the turtle and snake into the wild, while the remaining animals went to the care of the Humane Society. It is believed that the owners were planning to sell the animals, except for the rats and mice, which were used as food for the pythons.
Police received several reports of a foul stench coming from a suburban Wisconsin home, belonging to a woman named Jamie Verburgt. State Conservation Warden, William Mitchell was asked to inspect the property, where he found nearly 200 animals including: alligators, scorpions, 70 ducks, snakes, rats, turtles, toads and carnivorous beetles. In an adjacent garage, Mitchell discovered the decaying corpses of ‘roadkill’ which the owner had used to feed the animals. On top of this, carcasses of raccoons, rabbits, opossums and squirrels were found in the owner’s freezer. In a very closely related case, four years earlier Verburgt’s boyfriend, John Walters was prosecuted for mistreatment of exotic animals. At the time his home was raided by police who seized: a female cougar, female leopard, silver-tailed fox, monitor lizard, two caracals, a coatimundi, chinchilla and reticulated python.
Approximately 185 animals were found living in deplorable condition at a home in Apache Junction, Arizona. Neighbours suspected mistreatment of animals and made several pleading phone calls to police before any action was taken. Included in the 185 were: 47 dogs, 96 rabbits, 18 chickens,13 goats, six horses, two cats, one pot-bellied pig, African parrot and cockatiel. In a muddy area on the other side of the property, police found a horse, undernourished and poorly cared for – it was euthanised shortly after.
A man was pulled over for a routine check, and police were astonished when he opened his hatchback to reveal over 1000 animals cramped into the small space. The animals were: 1000 terrapins, 216 budgies, 300 white mice,150 hamsters, 30 Japanese squirrels and six chameleons. Driver, Francesco Lombardo admitted smuggling the animals across Europe with the intention of selling them.
How could we talk menagerie’s without mention of Michael Jackson’s collection of strange and wonderful animals? Since Jackson’s death in September, all the animals have been sent to new homes. Amongst the more memorable were: Bubbles, the chimpanzee (Center for Great Apes, Wauchulu), Bengal tigers Thriller and Sabu (Shambala, California), Rikki the African parrot (with Freddie Hancock at the Voices of the Wild Foundation), pythons, giraffes, anacondas and two black caimans. The rest of the animals are currently at a wildlife reserve in Oklahoma, but will soon be moved to a location in Arizona.
Maybe one for a Marine Mysteries list, but in 2007 a deserted cargo ship was discovered off the coast of Qingzhou Island, China, after having lost engine power. On board were up to 5000 of some of the world’s rarest species of animals. Packed into cramped wooden crates were: 31 pangolins, 2720 monitor lizards, 44 leatherback turtles, 1130 Brazilian turtles, 21 bear paws wrapped in newspaper and a photo depicts what is suspected to be an Asian Giant turtle. The animals were transported to the nearby Guangdong Wild Animal Protection Centre.
This famous 7.7 sq. mi estate owned by drug lord, Pablo Escobar, is one of the largest privately owned menageries ever found. At the height of his success in the 1980s, Escobar imported rare and expensive animals from all over the world. The zoo included: giraffes, ostriches, elephants, ponies, rare antelopes, hippopotamuses, zebras, buffalos, camels, lions, an ocelot and several species of exotic birds. After his death in 1993, many of the animals became property of the Columbian government, except for two hippopotamuses which escaped and were later shot dead by authorities. Today, Hacienda Napoles is an official zoo and considered a major tourist attraction.
why isn’t the playboy mansion on the list
Halloa everybody!
This is the phony bucslim who has turned over a new palm leaf.
My apologies to dear randall and bucslim and everyone else i might have offended.
Just want you to know that i respect men of knowledge (minus their vast potential to spill out swear words at will!)
P.S. Mom,my nick is okay now, ain’t it? As for the alias,just to retain my (ahem!) identity?
@El the erf a.k.a. phony bucslim (122): good enough young man. Your learning curve is getting pretty steep. Good job!
not a good list. Not interesting. Big deal. I would be more interested in a list of ships found abondoned on the high seas with no crew.
Or a list of the best underwater wrecks that have been found, there are many in the great lakes including a schooner that was intact. or a list of the most famous wooden ships found, caligulas ship, to the vasa.
How about the most exotic ships, the largest ships,
How about a list of rectal diseases, from dermititus to hemmeroids. How about a list of the worst std’s. how about a list of things that kate hates about jon. a list of the most supportive bras or the best fitting under wear. How about a list of the tastiest animals, or a list of the best vegitarian dishes that resemble meat dishes and make me think I am eating a tatsty endangered species, but I am not.
Just a few rambling ideas.
A comment towards this list in general…I’ve always been baffled by the selfishness of people who insist on keeping true exotics as personal pets….Primates, large cats, endangered reptiles, exotic birds, reef fish, etc.
They don’t have any regard to the cruelty of taking a beautiful creature from it’s natural habitat, and rarely can give the proper care or diet to maintain the animal’s health.
Nor do the care about the impact that demanding such creatures can have on the environment from which they are robbed. For every kept creature, sometimes dozens were poached that never survived the experience.
The salt water fish industry often has relied on cyanide fishing methods, which has left reefs and their habitants decimated in some regions of the world. The target fish, their neighbors and the home that took thousands of years to evolve and establish itself. An entire tourist income to these countries, lost forever, for the selfish desire of an exotic tank owner.
When I was a child, my mother chose to become the owner of a Spider Monkey, rather chic in the mid 60′s.
That little guy did everything a well schooled monkey SHOULD do…he flew from the ceiling lamps, climbed curtains like they were the Empire State Building and marked his territory in every conceivable spot he could find. My mother was horrified….and rather edgy with the lack of sleep due to his angry nighttime chittering.
Then the little guy BIT…me and my mom were both bit by the monkey. And I kindof liked him..:( And what do you have to do when a monkey bites you? Make sure you don’t have rabies.
How do you do that…Take him to the vet, have him killed and check his brain cells for the disease. Testing proved that the little guy was clean for rabies. Yayy!
Nice ending to the story of the chic pet…dead for doing what they do with no problem in the wild.
Please excuse my rant…But I just don’t get the mentality of these people.
@Randall (117): You too? I crap every time I see a wolf spider, dude.
@mom424 (123): You’re a mod, right? I’m still new-ish
@ mom424(123)
“good enough young man”
You sure are clever mom. you figured that out. i am just 19.
The picture for number 2 is a little disturbing. Perhaps a warning wouldn’t go amiss.
Interesting list though.
@ianz09 (127): yes. lets keep it quiet though. I generally don’t comment as one eh? Just as myself.@El the erf a.k.a. phony bucslim (128): Yes too!
@El the erf a.k.a. phony bucslim (128):
Yeah well it’s still unacceptable to me – why don’t you try making a name for yourself instead of latching on to the most brilliant commenter since Cicero? Stop being a such a pussy and say something useful for a change.
Oh, that’s right you can’t make a name for yourself here because no one cares what you have to say. Awwww, too bad tiger.
@bucslim (131) I totaly agree, you keep baiting him and he responds with glee, we should all ignore him and he might pick up his toys an hopefully ago and play on the highway – a leopard never changes his stripes.
@El the erf a.k.a. phony bucslim (128):
It didn’t require that much cleverness to figure out you’re a kid, jerkwad. Frankly I think you’re still lying and are only about 15. The 19 year olds I know are a lot smarter and can actually form coherent sentences. But then you’re not at all funny either, and I know some 15 years olds who are a hell of a lot funnier than you.
@ianz09 (126): ICK on the wolf spiders! I used to work in an office attached to a warehouse. When I opened the building and turned on the lights I could see those things scatter! And one of the guys in the warehouse, knowing I HATE spiders, showed me a “cute” little trick: it seems the wolf spiders carry the baby spiders on their back and when you step on it you kill the momma spider but you can see the teeny-tiny baby spiders crawl off in every direction. DI-sgusting!
@bucslim(131)
“most brilliant commentator since Cicero”
Well..I am not sure.That’s a toss between you and Randall
and as for writing something useful, i too have started scanning wikipedia like the most of the chaps here.
Sorry that should read tiger and not leopard, I get mixed up here in my lab. Ive got tigers with dots, chickens that bark, my cats lay eggs. – enyway buc Im in on this one with you.
@undaunted warrior n randall (132 n 133)
why can’t you be a lot more optimistic and expect better out of me like mom. i have apologized here, haven’t i??
how shall i make myself clearer,oh dear..
@Randall (117): It appears you’re a very amorous person (given your side-bar stories). Do you just keep a different girl in every port
@El the erf a.k.a. phony bucslim (137): how shall i make myself clearer,oh dear..
How about growing the ***** up, for starters.
i have not read all the posts, but i will say this:
this list could have been better if it focused wither on animal *****, endangered animal exploitation, animal hoarding, or illegal possession of animals…but combining all in one list is not enlightening, it’s confusing, since each one is an entire genre of inhumanity upon itself.
here in Florida, we have lots of issues with illegally owned, dangerous animals & animal smuggling. I personally know of an individual whom owned an exotic pet store who served federal time for attempting to smuggle poison dart arrow frogs into the country from the wilds of South America, where he was working as researcher!!!
next to drugs, the animal blackmarket trade is the next most profitable. it is often difficult to show a poverty stricken individual in a third world country why preserving their wild bears is more ecologically sound in the long term than killing them for their gallbladders, which pays handsomely now.
i have had my own menagerie over the years…all legal & licensed. in 2001 i was living in a large apartment and i had in my home
2 dogs
8 cats
2 bearded dragons
1 blue tongue skink
3 red tailed boas
1 black & white tegu
1 female panther chameleon
6 ferrets
1 skunk
3 raccoons
1 grey fox
4 squirrels
2 african spur-thighed tortoises
1 jungle carpet python cross
3 Gambian pouched rats
1 Argus monitor
1 millipede
1 red kneed tarantula
1 Goliath tarantula
and my home was not deplorable. i did spend alot of time feeding, cleaning, & caring for my animals, & i took pride in them being healthy and happy.
eventually i grew out of the “herp” trade. (i sold or gave away my reptiles & invertebrates) my ferrets all passed away, 3 of my cats passed away, i stopped being a volunteer at a wildlife rescue organization, & now i only have 5 cats, 2 dogs, the Argus Monitor, 1 Red Tail boa, and sadly, my beloved skunk passed away in July.
i do not consider my home “the zoo” anymore…and now that i am older, i appreciate the time i had with all those animals. but i honestly can say i never want to be that involved in my housework again!
there are people, especially those involved in the veterinary field or other zoological science, whom enjoy the company of several animals & learn from them. having multiple pets is almost a prerequisite for the career!
@Maggot (120):
“…This was likely done to spare your fragile young mind the traumatic emotions of death so as to ensure that you grew up into the kind-hearted well-adjusted person that you are today.”
Well, in that you are assigning far too much compassion to my family, who are cold and tough-skinned folk who like to play appalling practical jokes on stupid people, and who believe that the sappier emotions are for the weak and feeble.
In point of fact, I was made to attend family funerals (which were such regular affairs that I had a lil’ black suit that was reserved just for these repeat occasions) so that I might “face death, our constant companion.” See, long-life does not run in my family. Everybody kicks off before the wrinkles set in.
Explains my lifelong love of Universal and Hammer horror films and cheesy old horror movies in general. (My sister, who is 10 years older than me, used to sit me down and make me watch monster movies with her on Saturday afternoons, when I was but a tyke. Other people my age have fond memories of various televison pleasantries and sitcoms from their childhood; my fond memories are tied to “Monster Movie Matinee” and “Dark Shadows.”) In fact, I trace my fear of spiders to a vivid memory from childhood… I was about 3 years old or so, so 1968 or 69… and my oldest brother (15 years my senior) and his friends were watching the old Jack Arnold giant-bug flick, “Tarantula” one saturday afternoon, and I was cajoled into joining them. Giant spider = lifelong arachnophobia. No brainer.
I now possess the largest collection of classic horror films east of Forrest Ackerman’s spare bedroom (I ***** you not). And I’m passing on the traumatic tradition to my daughters, who are already amusingly dark children.
What the hell is wrong with these people? They should be made to live in the same deplorable conditions in which they were found.
grown ups…
@Randell (133) I mentioned it in a previos comment most of these w—–s have not even have had their first shave yet and they want to give us older guys advice on how to do things.
Relax pal, how many of them have we had over the last 18 month. They fade away eventully.
@ames801 (134):
AH… I forgot! I have ANOTHER spider story. I think this is another one I’ve already told elsewhere on the site, but it’s still one of my faves.
Some years ago, when I was younger and in college, I worked nights for drinking cash at a local Kmart. So on this one hapless eve, I made my way to the back storeroom to bring out some merchandise to restock the shelves. Going about my business, I suddenly noticed something on the floor out of the corner of my eye. It moved. Which in turn nearly caused ME to move. My bowels, that is. Because it was THE BIGGEST F**KING SPIDER I had ever seen in my life. That is, in person, and outside of zoos. Now, truth be told, this was no tarantula, so my ex-girlfriend still has it over me—she probably would have challenged this little f**ker to single combat. Me, I was frozen in my tracks.
Now, whilst I stood there considering the efficacy of wetting myself, it seemed as if the nasty, hairy thing noticed me for the first time. Now, you, like me, have probably enough experience with creepy critters to know that they’re much more scared of big ol’ you than *you* are of they.
Imagine my surprise, shock, horror, and startlement, then, when this big bastard actually CHARGED ME.
I mean it—the damn thing came at me with murder in its eyes. All 8 of ‘em.
It was at this point that I exclaimed something like “MOTHER OF ALL THAT LIVES AND BREATHES”… something colorful like that… and roused myself from my frozen terror enough to STOMP the creepy son of a *****.
Not much of a story? Big deal, grown man steps on a biggish spider which is still, nevertheless, tiny compared to him? Well, the nastiness of it is that I am not lying or exaggerating when I say this spider *charged* me. It wasn’t just “headed my way in a hurry” nor is it possible that it hadn’t noticed me. It had in fact frozen in place when it saw me move, at first, and did that little spidery aggressive move where it rose up a bit on its legs…. and then it came to the fateful decision to go hell-for-leather and take a shot at attacking the giant primate in its way. The fact that I brutally won the contest does not alter the enormity of the truth—which is that that was one bad-ass spider with grapefruit sized balls.
@ames801 (134): Ew… Ew… I’m not a wuss, I mean, very few things in life scare me. Not to sound cocky or whatever, I just don’t suffer from many phobias. But if I saw that… I can honestly say there would be a high chance of me crying. And if not that, I would spend the rest of the week smacking every little tickle or itch with lightning-fast paranoia. Me and spiders are very much not friends. When I go to my basement, I carry a loaded airsoft pistol to pick off those suckers from afar… I’ve gotten kind of good at it.
Wow Randall, you sure know how to tell a story.
@Randall (144): There I go, now I’m paranoid. Thanks man. On a side note, I enjoyed the story despite its truly diturbing subject matter….
@Randall (144): There I go, now I’m paranoid. Thanks man. On a side note, I enjoyed the story despite its truly disturbing subject matter….
Going back to wolf spiders: they JUMP at you!! No lie.
@ames801 (138):
“It appears you’re a very amorous person (given your side-bar stories). Do you just keep a different girl in every port”
Is that a question or an observation?
You make me blush.
I am… uh… *extremely* amorous and, let’s face it, dirty-minded to an extreme. I have some great memories and am still, thankfully, working on new ones.
Life ain’t always a treat, trust me. I was only *slightly* exaggerating about the omnipresence of death in my family, for instance… but in some ways I’ve lived well.
And to put it bluntly, I love the dirty girls.
@mom424 (130): Note to self: Avoid *****ing off mom. lol j/k, I try not to be a dick of a user on here, so I doubt I’ll require moderation.
@ames801 (149): Yeah. I hate those things. Truly.
@Randall: In the previous list (when I was asking about your book),I had posted a comment asking you to make your book available in the Asian market so that I can have a look in..if you hadn’t noticed then I ask you again senor.
@Other Listversians: Don’t pay attention to any stupid attention seeker
Actually, my friend told me about when his dad was away for a mission trip to Africa (forget what country), he was sitting around the camp, when one of the female missionaries screamed in pure abject terror. When he went to find out what happened, they found out (after she managed to talk through her tears), that while she was showering, a baboon spider (think Africa’s version of the South American bird-eating tarantula) made quite a debut by crawling right over her foot.
@geronimo1618 (153):
Ah yes… I took note of the request… I’m not sure that that will be up to me… and let’s be cautious here–the thing isn’t even published yet. It’s not even totally DONE yet. But if people’s reactions to it (those that have read parts of it so far) mean anything, then it *ought* to make publication with little trouble.
Thanks for your interest in any event.
@Randall (150): Who doesn’t like a ‘nice’ girl to introduce to friends/family that can still be ‘naughty’ in private?? I think that’s pretty standard, no? I think there’s a line in some (hip-hop) song “I need a lady on the streets but a freak in the sheets” or something like that…
(I just checked my hair and makeup in the mirror before I responded to this. Weirdo).
where the hell is my post? i spent some 10 minutes writing it…sent it, then didn;t see it posted, so i copy & pasted it to resend it, and was sent to a page on WordPress saying it’s a duplicate comment…but where the hell is it???
@ianz09 (154): Ack! My curiosity always gets the best of me: I just image-searched a baboon spider. My heart dropped to my toes. I am currently sitting indian style so my feet are not on the floor. Not sure what that’s supposed to do but it makes me feel better.
@ames801 (156):
“Who doesn’t like a ‘nice’ girl to introduce to friends/family that can still be ‘naughty’ in private?? I think that’s pretty standard, no?”
Well yeah, standard desire, but not a wholly *common* find.
But this is what kept my marriage together for 8 years or whatever it was… my wife and I were incompatible as people, had little in common… but she was gorgeous and fantastic fun in the bedroom. And I did my part too.
(I pride myself on being… well… nah. That’ll sound boastful… let’s just say that offering pleasure to another person is *itself* a source of pleasure for oneself. 
)
“I think there’s a line in some (hip-hop) song “I need a lady on the streets but a freak in the sheets” or something like that…”
I’d get totally behind that sentiment, yeah. There’s nothing hotter than an attractive, classy, intelligent, sophisticated woman with poise and grace who is Audrey Hepburn in public and a a fun-loving ***** in the bedroom.
“(I just checked my hair and makeup in the mirror before I responded to this. Weirdo).”
flirtatious minx.
Not a spider, but still, an arthropod… my favorite—the Prius-sized Coconut Crab:
http://cocokrispybeans.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/coconut20crab20scampering4s.jpg
@ames801 (156): Hmm, gotta love hip hop!
@ames801 (158): I pride myself in being able to keep my curiosity in check. It saved me from looking up 2 girls 1 cup before I actually Urban Dictionay-ed it. Damn, what would I have done to myself?
@Randall (160): That thing can remove fingers.
@ianz09 (163):
Fingers? Take your head off, man.
@ianz09 (162): Yeah, some of us (ME) never listen to the warnings: I actually looked up 2 girls…I feel like I lost whatever innocence I had left.
@Randall (159):
“flirtatious minx”
I take pride in that little personality trait ‘o mine.
@ames801 (165): I avoided that one, but screwed up and looked at Mr Hands *shudder* and Tubgirl *barf*.
@Randall (164): We have a common phobia. On the spiders list I had mentioned a story about when one was on my face. It woke me up at 3 am. When I thought I got it off me and tried to go back to sleep, the little f**ker was hiding out in my hair. Crawled in my ear. No sleep for me that night.
Exotic animals should never be pets. I would like them, but I can’t be that cruel. I am fine seeing them in the wild. I even have issues with zoos.
@Randall (90): Best story ever. Thanks
@oouchan (167): Thanks a bunch, oouchan! I have not idea what Mr Hands is…hurry up and convincingly warn me!! HURRY!
Tubgirl, on the other hand, I saw in print at the very young age of 19…I was confused, sickened and a little bitter at the world after that.
@El the erf a.k.a. phony bucslim (142): Because I am a mom; a nurturer. That and I’d rather educate someone and make them a friend. You’ve *****ed off a rather tight knit community – it’ll take a bit for them to forgive you. But it is possible. Be brief and respectful and circumspect in your comments for a while. They’ll come around. Eventually. And in deference to Bucslim, I’d change my nic to El the erf. It’s kind of cute and we all know who you are now.
Roxy – I have no idea. Your well thought out comment is NOT in moderation. Try again please?
@ames801 (169): I have not idea what Mr Hands is
It’s a series of educational videos on the art of erotic *****. I urge you to look them up, post-haste.
@Maggot (171): I’m not just another pretty face. I smell a rat…or a horse
neverland doesn’t particularly live up to my expectations
@Maggot I just spewed dr. pepper all over my screen, excellent description!
I had an iguana for many years(she now lives with my nephew)who was a true pet. She knew who I was. She even perked up when I got home. She would climb up onto my shoulder and I would hand feed her fruit. She was actually quite affectionate(for a reptile). She really liked to sleep on my lap as I watched TV, although it was probably for the warmth. When I visit my nephew the iguana seems to be happy to see me.
lions, tigers & bear’s oh my
170 – wait, mom424 is actually a mom? You DO NOT want to know what I thought your name meant…
@Maggot (171): Now that’s just mean! But an accurate description.
@ames801 (172): You would be right. Read up on the short film, Zoo.
@oouchan (178): Now that’s just mean!
The internet is a dangerous place, oouchan. lol